Pretoria - Africa's untapped Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector will be thrashed out at the ICT Indaba, which is to be addressed by President Jacob Zuma.
Kicking off this Sunday and ending on 6 June, the indaba will be addressed by the President on its second day. Communications Minister Dina Pule will deliver the opening address.
Global internet access, connecting Africa to the world, rural broadband best practices models as well as digitalising government for service delivery, among others, will be discussed at the indaba.
The indaba will be held under the theme: "Connecting Africa to Development with ICT's and bridging the digital divide" and will include speakers from Rwanda, China, India and Cuba among others.
Education, health, infrastructure, agri-business, trade and extractive industries have been identified as critical tools in driving ICT as a tool for development.
The ICT Indaba is an African focused international ICT conference that will identify the challenges and seek solutions to capitalise on the potential of the ICT sector so as to bring about long term-socio-economic development. It will provide a platform providing dialogue among the world's ICT experts focusing on the developing and underdeveloped conditions.
The conference that ends on 6 June, is hosted by the South African government, in partnership with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) which is a United Nations Agency looking after the ICT sector.
Among other speakers at the event will be Dr Jun Xia of the School of Economics and Management at the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, who is set to speak on the Chinese Model of "Advancing Rural Development through ICTs" while some of sessions will focus on "Critical policies that must be accelerated to advance Africa's knowledge-based economy."
More detail about the Indaba, which will be held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, can be found on www.ictindaba.com/2012/.
